Handheld Electric Fan

ABSTRACT

A hand-held electric fan includes a housing, an air inlet configured on one side of the housing, an air outlet configured on another side of the housing, fan blades configured in said housing, a motor for driving rotation of the fan blades, wherein the air inlet and air outlet have an included angle of 20˜160 degrees. The hand-held electric fan according to the present invention can be held by a user conveniently, such that the inflow and outflow of air are not interfered by the user&#39;s hand holding the fan during use.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material,which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority of the Chinese utility modelapplication number 201120396334.7 filed on Oct. 18, 2011, and thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a hand-held electric fan, andparticularly to a hand-held electric fan, which can be held by a userconveniently while inflow and outflow of air are unaffected.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Air inlet and air outlet of existing hand-held electric fans arepositioned on the same axis, thereby pathways of inflow and outflow ofair are easily blocked by a user's hand when the user holds the fan headpart (including motor and fan blades) of the existing fans directly,leading to inconvenient use. Although a handle can be installed onto thefan, the handle and fan head are two separate portions. This results inan increase in overall size of the fan and thus carrying and placementof the fan becomes inconvenient. Moreover, the flexibility in designingthe fan head would be reduced. Due to the air inlet and air outlet beingarranged on the same axis in existing hand-held electric fans, it is noteasy to place a hand-held fan upright on a surface (with an air outletfacing upward) to blow air out upward or to hang a hand-held fan on awall blowing air toward the ground.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the existing problems, the main objective of the presentapplication is to provide a hand-held electric fan which can be held bya user conveniently while inflow and outflow of air through the fan donot experience interference from the user's hand when holding the fanand high flexibility in designing the fan can be maintained. The presentinvention also allows the freedom to design a fan having any shapes orpatterns.

To achieve the aforesaid objective, the present invention provides ahand-held electric fan including a housing having a plurality of sides,an air inlet configured on a first side of the housing, an air outletconfigured on a second side of the housing, a plurality of centrifugalor directional fan blades installed in the housing near the air inlet,and a motor installed in the housing for driving rotation of the fanblades. The present invention also provides a hand-held electric fanhaving an included angle of 20˜160 degrees between the air inlet and theair outlet. In one embodiment, the air inlet faces upward.

In one embodiment, the present invention further includes a protectivecover that is located in the air inlet for protecting the user fromreaching the fan blades, and an air outlet cover optionally located atthe air outlet.

The present invention further includes an air inlet cover of any sizes,shapes or patterns at the air inlet. In one embodiment, bottom portionand front end of the air inlet cover are opened, and the opening at thebottom portion of the air inlet cover is connected to the air inlet.

In one embodiment, the front end of the air inlet cover having any sizesor shapes or patterns is larger than the rear end of the air inletcover.

In another embodiment, the rear end of the air inlet cover having anysizes or shapes or patterns is larger than the front end of the airinlet cover.

In yet another embodiment, the front end and rear end of the air inletcover having any sizes or shapes or patterns are equal in size.

In a further embodiment, the present invention includes one or moreadjustable solar panels. The one or more adjustable solar panels can belocated anywhere of the housing. For example, the one or more adjustablesolar panels may be configured above the air inlet cover.

In another embodiment, the hand-held electric fan includes one or morepower sources for powering the motor, and the one or more power sourcesincludes the followings, but not limited to: rechargeable battery, drycell battery, solar cell, USB power supply port, car cigarette ignitionsocket, and AC/DC power supply adapter.

The fan blades of the present invention can be centrifugal ordirectional.

In yet another embodiment, the hand-held electric fan includes one ormore anion generators, and/or one or more heating elements, and/or oneor more cooling elements.

The hand-held electric fan of the present invention can be held by auser conveniently, and the air inlet and air outlet thereof are notblocked by the user's hand when holding the fan.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 is the side view of one embodiment of a hand-held electric fan ofthe present invention, arrows indicate the direction of air;

FIG. 2 is the schematic diagram of one embodiment of a hand-heldelectric fan of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is the schematic diagram of a first embodiment of the air inletcover of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is the schematic diagram of a second embodiment of the air inletcover of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is the schematic diagram of a third embodiment of the air inletcover of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is the side view of another embodiment of the hand-held electricfan of the present invention, arrows indicate the direction of air; and

FIG. 7 is the schematic diagram of a further embodiment of the hand-heldelectric fan of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:

To illustrate the structure and advantages of the present invention,below is the detailed description of the present invention incombination with the figures and embodiments.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the hand-held electric fan according to thepresent invention includes a housing 1 having plurality of sides,wherein an air inlet 10 is configured on one side of housing 1, and anair outlet 11 located on a second side of housing 1, fan blades (notindicated in the figures) installed at air inlet 10 and a motor (notshown). The fan blades and motor in the present invention are concealedin housing 1. The fan blades can be centrifugal or directional. Thehousing of the present invention may be a single component or assembledfrom two or more components in order to form the housing of desiredshapes and sizes for enclosing integral parts thereof, such as fanblades, motor, air inlet, air outlet and the like of the present fan. Inthe embodiment of which the housing is assembled from two or morecomponents, the two or more components may be assembled into the housingby one or more engaging means known to those skilled in the art. The oneor more engaging means for assembling the housing of the presentinvention may be in the form of, but not limited to lugs andprojections, plugs and sockets, screws and bearings, or a combinationthereof. Furthermore, the two or more components may be permanentlyfabricated into the housing during manufacture of the present inventionby, for example, adhesive means. A protective cover 12 can be configuredat air inlet 10, wherein said protective cover can be, but not limitedto a cage, a grille, a framework, a mesh or a lattice in order toprotect a user or any foreign objects from reaching the fan blades. Anair outlet cover (not indicated in the figures) can be optionally set atair outlet 11 to keep out any big foreign objects from the fan. Thesubject fan can include one or more power sources for driving the motor.The power sources applicable to the present invention are known to thoseskilled in the art. For example, the power sources can be, but notlimited to rechargeable battery, dry cell battery, solar cell, USB powersupply port, car cigarette ignition socket, and AC/DC power supplyadapter. As shown in FIG. 1, the air inlet 10 can face upwards relativeto the orientation of the fan hold by a user and the air outlet 11 facesto the side. Rotation of fan blades forms channels of airway. Thechannels of airway are drawn into housing 1 from air inlet 10, and passalong housing 1 then being blown out from air outlet 11. Air inlet 10and air outlet 11 are neither parallel nor on the same axis and arearranged to be positioned having an included angle of 20˜160 degreesbetween them. By the expression “included angle” it is meant an angleformed at the intersection between a line positioned approximatelynormal to an air inlet surface and a line positioned approximatelynormal to an air outlet surface is approximately 20˜160 degrees suchthat the air inlet is not directly aligned with the air outlet. Thisspecific arrangement of the air inlet and outlet of the presentinvention enables housing 1 to be held directly without covering the airinlet 10 and air outlet 11 while without restricting the design of thefan in terms of appearances and sizes. Accordingly, the hand-heldelectric fan of the present invention can have any sizes, shapes andpatterns as desired. An air outlet cover (not indicated in the figures)may be present at the air outlet 11 in the present invention. The absentof an air outlet cover reduces resistance in outlet air.

An air inlet cover may be installed at air inlet of the hand-heldelectric fan in the present invention. The air inlet cover may have anysizes or shapes or patterns. As shown in FIGS. 3-5, the air inlet cover14 has a front and a rear ends, and a top and a bottom portions, wherethe bottom portion and the front end of air inlet cover 14 are opened(or uncovered). The front end of air inlet cover 14 refers to theportion of the inlet cover where air enters the fan from. The front endof air inlet cover 14 is larger than the rear end (as indicated in FIG.3), or the rear end of air inlet cover 14 is larger than the front end(as indicated in FIG. 5), or the front end and rear end are equal insize (as indicated in FIG. 4).

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the opened bottom portion of air inlet cover14 is installed at the air inlet 10, which forces the direction of airentering from air inlet 10 to rotate 20˜160 degrees, so that thedirection of inlet air is parallel to the direction of outlet air. Inthis way, not only can the user hold housing 1, but can also hold theair inlet cover 14 directly without blocking or interfering with theinlet and outlet airways.

The electric fan of the present invention may further include one ormore adjustable solar panels. As illustrated in FIG. 7, an adjustablesolar panel 15 is positioned at air inlet cover 14. Solar panel 15 isconnected to the fan motor, and the solar panel 15 can be positionedclosely adjacent to the top portion of air inlet cover 14, and the solarpanel 15 can be lifted and adjusted accordingly toward light source tostore energy during use to power the fan motor. In order to blow warmair and/or air having anions, the hand-held electric fan of the presentinvention can further include one or more anion generators, one or moreheating elements, and/or one or more cooling elements, and/orcombinations thereof. The heating and cooling elements may be in theform of, but not limited to plates and wires.

It should be understood that the embodiments described above are onlyillustrations of the present invention, which should not limit theprotection scope of the present invention. Specifically, the electricfan of the present invention can be of any size or shape or pattern asdesired. Namely, the housing, air inlet, air outlet and covers thereofmay be any sizes or shapes or patterns, not limited to those describedin the figures in the subject application. One skilled in the art caneasily ascertain the essential characteristics of the present invention,and without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can makevarious changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it tovarious usages and conditions. Thus, other embodiments are also withinthe scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A hand-held electric fan, comprising: a housinghaving a plurality of sides; an air inlet configured on a first side ofsaid housing; an air outlet configured on a second side of said housing;fan blades installed in said housing; and a motor for driving rotationof the fan blades, wherein the air inlet and the air outlet arepositioned such that an angle formed at an intersection between a linepositioned approximately normal to an air inlet surface and a linepositioned approximately normal to an air outlet surface isapproximately 20-160 degrees so that the hand-held electric fan can beheld directly by the housing without covering the air inlet and the airoutlet and without restricting the design of the fan in terms ofappearances and sizes.
 2. The hand-held electric fan of claim 1, furthercomprises a fan blade protective cover configured at said air inlet toprotect the fan blades from any foreign objects and an air outlet coveroptionally configured at the air outlet.
 3. The hand-held electric fanof claim 1, further comprises an air inlet cover configured at said airinlet, wherein bottom portion and front end of said air inlet cover areopened, and the opened bottom portion of the air inlet cover isinstalled at said air inlet.
 4. The hand-held electric fan of claim 3,wherein a front end of said air inlet cover is larger than a rear end ofsaid air inlet cover.
 5. The hand-held electric fan of claim 3, whereina rear end of said air inlet cover is larger than a front end of saidair inlet cover.
 6. The hand-held electric fan of claim 3, wherein frontand rear ends of said air inlet cover are equal in size.
 7. Thehand-held electric fan of claim 1, further comprising an adjustablesolar panel.
 8. The hand-held electric fan of claim 3, furthercomprising an adjustable solar panel.
 9. The hand-held electric fan ofclaim 1, further comprising one or more power sources for driving saidmotor, wherein the one or more power sources is a rechargeable battery,dry cell battery, solar cell, USB power supply port, car cigaretteignition socket or AC/DC power supply adapter.
 10. The hand-heldelectric fan of claim 1, wherein said fan blades are either centrifugalor directional.
 11. The hand-held electric fan of claim 1, furthercomprising at least one or more anion generators, one or more heatingelements, one or more cooling elements, or combinations thereof.
 12. Thehand-held electric fan of claim 1, wherein the housing is a singlecomponent.
 13. The hand-held electric fan of claim 1, wherein thehousing is assembled from two or more components.